Fes. 16. 1850.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
249 
“ Teque inter species geminas neutrumque et utrumque, 
Qui needum salmo, nee jam salar, ambiguusque 
Amborum medio fario intercepte sub zvo.” 
I throw out this conjecture to take its chance 
of refutation or acceptance. Valeat quantum! 
C.W.G. 
ANTONY ALSOP. 
“ R.H.” (No. 14. p. 215.) will find all, I believe, 
that is known respecting Antony Alsop, in that 
rich storehouse of materials for the literary history 
of the last century, Nichols’s Anecdotes, or in 
Chalmers (Biogr. Dict.), who has merely tran- 
scribed from it. The volume of Latin Odes your 
correspondent mentions, was published by Sir 
Francis Bernard, and printed by Bowyer. Some 
notice of Sir Francis Bernard will be also found 
in Nichols. 
The Odes were long circulated in MS.; and I 
have a copy that once belonged to Thomas Warton, 
which seems to have been written by G. Crochly, 
of Christchurch College, in 1736. It contains, 
however, nothing that is not to be found in the 
printed volume. The Dedication to the Duke of 
Newcastle was written by Bernard, who had in- 
tended to have given a preface and copious notes, 
as appears by the prospectus he published ; but, 
to our great regret, he was dissuaded from his 
purpose. 
Alsop was a favourite with that worthy man 
and elegant scholar Dean Aldrich, at whose in- 
stance he published his pleasing little volume, 
Fabularum Aisopicarum Delectus, Oxon. 1698. In 
the preface Bentley is thus designated — “ Ri- 
chardum quendam Bentleium Virum in vol- 
vendis Lexicis satis diligentem ;” and there is a 
severe attack upon him in one of the fables, which 
was not forgotten by the great scholar, who affects | 
to speak of Tony Alsop the fabulist with great 
contempt. 
I have never seen the volume of Latin and 
English Poems published in 1738; but, notwith- 
standing the designation, “a gentleman of Trinity 
College,” it may be at least partly by Alsop, 
though he undoubtedly was of Christchurch. 
There are English poems by him, published both 
in Dodsley’s and Pearch’s collection, and several 
in the early volumes of the Gentleman's Maga- 
zine. 1 have the authority of a competent judge 
for saying, that the very witty, but not quite 
decent verses in that miscellany, vol. v. p. 216.— 
“Ad Hypodidasculum quendam plagosum, al- 
terum orbilium, ut uxorem duceret, Epistola 
hortativa.” Subscribed “ Kent, Lady-day, 1835” 
—are Alsop’s. He took the degree of M.A. in 
1696, and of B.D. in 1706, and, by favour of the 
Bishop of Winchester, got a prebend in his ca- 
thedral, and the rectory of Brightwell, Berks. He 
-was accidentally drowned in a ditch leading to 
his garden gate, in 1726. There is good reason 
to believe that a MS. life of him is to be found 
among the Rawlinson MSS., which it may be 
worth while to consult. 
It will be remembered that Christchurch was 
the head quarters of the phalanx of wits opposed 
to Bentley. 
“Nor wert thou, Isis, wanting to the day, 
[Tho’ Christchurch long kept prudishly away,”] 
is Pope’s ironical banter; and he has not failed to 
mention Alsop and Freind in Bentley’s speech :— 
“Let Freind affect to speak as Terence spoke, 
And Alsop never but like Horace joke,” 
where the note says, “ Dr. Antony Alsop, a happy 
imitator of the Horatian style.” 
Indeed, Alsop seems to have been duly esteemed 
and appreciated by his contemporaries ; and every 
tasteful scholar will concur in the opinion that 
his truly elegant Sapphics deserve a place among 
the few volumes of modern Latin verse, which 
he would place near Cowper’s more extensively 
known favourite, Vinny Bourne. SuWas8: 
Antony Alsop, respecting whom a query ap- 
pears in No. 14. p.215., was of Christchurch, 
under the famous Dr. Aldrich, by whom the prac- 
tice of smoking was so much enjoyed and en- 
couraged. The celebrated Sapphic ode, addressed 
by Alsop to Sir John Dolben, professes to have 
been written with a pipe in his mouth : — 
“ Dum tubum, ut mos est meus, ore versans, 
Martiis pensans quid agam ecalendas, 
Pone stat Sappho monitisque miscet 
Blanda severis.” 
Ant. Alsop took his degree of M. A. March 23. 
1696, B. D. Dec. 1706. He died June 10. 1726; 
and the following notice of his death appears in 
the Historical Register for that year : — 
«“Dy’d Mr. Antony Alsop, Prebendary of Win- 
chester, and Rector of Brightwell, in the county of 
Berks. He was killed by falling into a ditch that led 
to his garden door, the path being narrow, and part of 
it foundering under his feet.” 
I believe Alsop was not the author of a volume 
by a gentleman of Trinity College, and that he 
never was a member of that society; but that 
doubt is easily removed by reference to the entry 
of his matriculation at Oxford. We Hye; 
Temple. 
“R. H.” inquires, whether Antony Alsop was 
at Trinity College before he became a student of 
Christchurch? I have considered it to be my 
duty to examine the Admission Registers of 
Trinity College in my possession since the foun- 
dation of the college; and I can only say, that I 
do not find the name in any of them. ‘That he 
was at Christchurch, and admitted there as a stu- 
dent, is recorded by his biographers. It is also 
